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At this moment in time, you are most likely thinking 'what is XCM?'. And I am going to tell you. XCM stands for Xtreme Card Manipulation and is a hobby and pastime enjoyed by many people across the globe. If you do XCM then you can perform incredible flourishes, one-handed cuts, two-handed cuts, springs, arm spreads, fans, flipbacks and all sorts of amazing stunts with a simple pack of playing cards. I practise XCM a lot, and really get a lot out of it. You have no idea how much fun it is to be able to do something that looks impossible!
I first discovered XCM in 2006 when I stumbled across superhandz.com, which you can get to from my links page. I was completely amazed and decided that I fancied being able to do that. I found one of two instructional videos on the internet that gave me some stuff to practise but there wasn't anything enormous. My big break came later that year when I bought the Xtreme Beginnerz DVD ...
It was hardly any time at all until I had it in the DVD player and I was watching the first few sections. I started off by learning the most basic moves and slowly worked my way through the whole DVD, learning at the rate of one or two moves a day, until I finished it in after 2 1/2 months.
Since then I have been making up routines and challenging myself to create new ones. I spend loads of my time with a deck of cards just practising and trying to improve my skill.
My next big step in the world of XCM was to order a copy of Jerry Cestkowski's Encyclopaedia of Playing Card Flourishes. I finally got round to doing so in spring 2007 and I was overjoyed when it came later that same month. As a matter of fact, I had coincided the ordering of it so that it arrived the day before the first anniversary of my discovering XCM! Once I had that I didn't stop learning moves. When I had perfected one I would move on to another and then another and another, and I am still going at it and probably will be for a very long time.
In mid-2007 I decided the time had come to spend a few bucks on a new, digital, camera. I made sure I bought one that had a video function and managed to find one pretty reasonably priced. Now I was all set as I could actually film my flourishing escapades for all to see. Unfortunately my first video was a tiny bit of a disaster (click the 'videos' link to see it for yourself), but that wasn't the only thing that I was planning to use the video for...
Every week, on magicbroadcast.com Jerry Cestkowski hosts a two-hour internet radio show called Flashcards Live which is dedicated entirely to the art of XCM. At the end of every show he always starts a contest where you have to come up with a move within certain boundaries and the best move wins a prize (any of the DVDs off his website). Because I could now video stuff I began entering these, but I have to admit I didn't have much luck. My first five or so entries didn't win, however, I didn't give up hope and I kept persevering in the hope that one week I might be the only person to enter and therefore win it.
My first win came around Easter 2008. The challenge was to do something interesting with a single card on a table. I came up with the idea of flicking it so it spins over, and by some miracle that was the winner! If you want to see my actual entry video and listen to the comments Jerry made on his show then click onto the videos page again.
As my winnings I chose a copy of the first companion DVD to the Encyclopaedia of Playing Card Flourishes and I am still waiting for it to arrive. Now that I have won once, though, I have made a very odd and twisted vow: never to pay for anything off Jerry's website. If I can win one DVD then surely, by the same stroke of luck, I can win the others. But we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for that...
